


The Legends of Gallifrey

by Fairylights4672



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, It’s like a doctor who episode but the master tags along, LITERALLY, The Doctor and the master get attatched, he doesn’t want to be there, idk dw lore don’t hit me, instead of the witchfinders, post Spyfall, they go to the Salem witch trials, they talk about Gallifrey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:42:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22337986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairylights4672/pseuds/Fairylights4672
Summary: “We have a visitor.”“Who?” Ryan frowned as he crossed the threshold into the ship, Yaz and Graham not far behind.“Someone, who if he goes much further,” the Doctor yelled through the console room and out into the corridor, “will start to give me a headache! Again!”“Doctor? What is going on?” Yaz asked, almost concernedly. “What’s around your wrist?”The Doctor didn’t get to answer though, as her nemesis stepped back into the room.The Master had the same manacle around his wrist, and his eyes dropped into a scowl when he saw Ryan and the others.Ryan gladly returned.
Relationships: The Doctor/The Master, Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 350





	The Legends of Gallifrey

Ryan made it to the TARDIS doors first, knocking soundly. The three had made it a habit to knock- Graham had insisted it was only polite. The Doctor needed privacy as much as the next person was what he said. 

They waited a little longer than usual, and Ryan turned to Yaz and Graham to ask where they thought the Doctor might be, before the door swung open. 

The Doctor looked dishevelled to say the least, and she appeared out of breath. Not only that, but she had what looked like some sort of futuristic manacle strapped tightly around her wrist. The time lords eyebrows shot up when she saw them, before she glanced around at their surroundings. 

“Oh! Fam! Hi!”

“Not expecting us, Doc?” Graham frowned hesitantly. 

“No, actually. Wasn’t actually aiming for Earth. Bit busy at the moment.”

“What with?” Yaz asked. 

“Got myself in a situation. Which wasn’t my fault! ...for once.”

“Can we come in?” Yaz persisted. “Maybe we can help.”

“Probably not, but..ok. I won’t promise you’ll like what you see though.” She sighed, opening the doorway and allowing her friends in. “We have a visitor.”

“Who?” Ryan frowned as he crossed the threshold into the ship, Yaz and Graham not far behind. 

“Someone, who if he goes much further,” the Doctor yelled through the console room and out into the corridor, “will start to give me a headache! Again!” 

“Doctor? What is going on?” Yaz asked, almost concernedly. “What’s around your wrist?”

The Doctor didn’t get to answer though, as her nemesis stepped back into the room. 

The Master had the same manacle around his wrist, and his eyes dropped into a scowl when he saw Ryan and the others. 

Ryan gladly returned. 

“What’s he doing here?” He glared across the room at the time lord, and the Doctor sighed. 

“We’re attached.” She held up her wrist as the Master waltzed over, standing a little way away from them. 

“On..purpose?” Graham frowned, sounding as confused as Ryan felt. 

“No, of course not. It was an accident.” The Doctor groaned, running a hand over her face. 

“Explain, Doctor. I don’t understand.” Yaz pushed.

“Fine.” 

“I’m just saying!” The Master threw his arms up in the air behind her as the two of them circled around the console. 

“How would you like it if I said something like that about your TARDIS?” The Doctor huffed, gently running her hands along the side of the console. “It’s ok girl, he doesn’t mean it.” 

“I do mean it.” 

“I will send you back to that pocket dimension.” He threatened, the TARDIS whirring in agreement. 

“I’m not being mean! I’m just telling the truth!” He argued defiantly. 

“Fine. We’ll settle this once and for all. And you’ll see that I’m right.” The Doctors glowered at her friend, pulling down a lever and listening to the TARDIS begin to warp through space and time. 

“I’m right. I was there.”

“I’m right. She’s my TARDIS.” 

“That you stole.” He pointed out, as the ship thumped to a stop. 

“Borrowed!” The Doctor turned on her heel and headed out of the doors, followed quickly by the other time lord. 

The two stepped out into a back alley of Victorian London, but neither time travellers wasted time on taking in the sights. 

The Doctor avoided a cart and crossed the street to a door, that she opened with her own key and stepped inside.

The musty smell filled her nostrils as the Master crowded into the hallway behind her. 

“Where are they?” She frowned, before wandering towards the only closed door in the hall. 

The Master was right behind her as she pushed it open. 

“Vastra-“

“Fire!” 

The two time lords were blown backwards, and sent skidding down the corridor. 

The Doctor ended up sprawled across the Master’s legs, with a throbbing head. 

“What the hell was that for?!” She sat up immediately, as Madam Vastra and Jenny came hurrying down the corridor towards them. 

The Doctor noticed the Master rubbing at his wrist as he sat up, which now had a newfound manacle bound to it. 

“Who are you? And how are you in our home?” Jenny demanded, taking no chances, as usual. Vastra put a delicate hand on her wife’s arm, staring at the Master with wide eyes. 

“Jenny, don’t you see. The Doctor has regenerated yet again.” 

“Oh, I’m not the Doctor, love.” The other time lord grumbled as he stood up, offering the Doctor his hand, which she took. He hauled her up and she jumped back onto the balls of her feet. 

“Hi! Had an upgrade. I am now, woman.” She gestured to herself. 

“Oh.” Vastra blinked. “I see. Well, how pleasant of you to join us, Doctor.” She glanced her up and down slowly, which earned her a quiet glare from her wife. “I’m only teasing Jenny.”

“Hang on, if you’re the Doctor, then who’s he?” Jenny frowned. 

“Oh..uh..the Master.” The time lord held her hands out when the two immediately took defensive positions. “But don’t worry! He’s with me.” 

“Why?” Vastra lowered her own arms slowly. 

“Long story.” The Doctors sighed, before lightening slightly. “I’ve missed you two.” She grinned, and Jenny offered her a large smile back. 

“And we’ve missed you Doctor. Sorry for hitting you with our..invention. We’re trying out new devices for situations. On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t have pointed it at the door.” 

“What are they?” The Doctor asked, turning over her wrist and looking at the lights and buttons placed along it. 

“They’re called separation manacles, designed to intercept thoughts. They’re for keeping two people together, when one may be confused or..newly regenerated.” Vastra glanced between the two time lords. 

“What happens if we get too far apart?”

“A high pitched sound in your head, designed to block out most thought and drive men mad. The only way to stop it will to be return to a safe distance.” The reptile explained calmly. 

“Oh! Cool!” The Doctor dug out her sonic from her pocket and pointed it at the Master’s wrist. When the manacle failed to fall off, she scrunched her nose up in confusion and she checked the readings on her sonic. “Wha?”

“Doctor, since this is designed to keep, primarily you safe if the situation ever did arise where we’d need to use it, don’t you think we would’ve made it sonic proof?” Vastra frowned. 

“Well then..how do we get them off?” 

The two women glanced between each other. 

“No Strax. We’re not using a grenade.” Vastra groaned. 

“Are you all this incompetent?” The Master scowled at them, clearly itching to be out of his confines. “Or is it just the ones that make time lord traps?”

“It’s not a trap- it’s a precaution.” Jenny explained calmly.

“An extremely painful precaution.” He snapped back, and the Doctor shot him a look as she paced the floor. 

“Grenades won’t be painful!” Strax supplied unhelpfully. “It’d be over in a matter of seconds!”

“No!” They chorused. Vastra sighed and gently reached out to touch the Doctor’s shoulder. 

“Doctor, if you want to get them off, I would suggest going to the man who supplied me with the technology.”

“Where is he?” She frowned. 

“A small moon, full of illegal technology. He deals in parts outlawed in most galaxies. The moons called Dirus.” 

“Dirus.” She repeated. 

“I don’t understand.” The Master frowned from where he was stood, broodingly in the corner of the room. “Why make the devices with no way of getting them off?”

“They were a prototype. We were just checking the magnetisation worked. That they had the momentum and velocity we wanted, if we needed to shoot them from afar.” Jenny explained from where she was stirring tea. 

“We’ll be on our way.” The Doctor turned to her old friend, who held his tongue. She could tell how annoyed he was. “We’ll have these off in no time, don’t worry.” 

“I’m not worried. I’m dreading being attached to you.” He huffed. 

“Well that’s two of us.” She shrugged. “Come on!”

“So..let me get this straight,” Graham put a hand to his head .”Cuz I’m tryna get my nut round this,” The Doctor nodded. “If you two walk too far away from each other, there’s a ringing in your ears? How is that supposed to bring you back together? Can’t you just ignore it?”

“No. It’s really loud. And painful.” The Doctor sighed. “Trust me, we tried.”

“Why were you together in the first place?” Ryan frowned, and the Doctor only waved him off. 

“Long story.” She skidded over to the console and flipped a switch with a frown. “Problem is, we’ve been trying to get to Dirus, but the TARDIS just keeps sending us to different time periods on Earth.”

“That usually only means one thing.” Graham shrugged. “Someone needs our help.”

“Dirus first. Then you can go on whatever stupid, heroic escapade you want too to make yourself feel better about your life.” The Master followed the Doctor to the console, and she looked up to frown deeply at him. 

“How am I supposed to do that when she won’t even take us to Dirus?”

“Sort it out. It is ‘your ship’ after all, Doctor.” He smiled sarcastically, with only a hint of menace. 

“If the TARDIS wants me to stay on Earth, then we’re stuck on Earth until she decides the threat has passed.” The Doctor shrugged. 

“So basically, you don’t have control over your ship?” The Master asked dryly. 

“Do you have control over yours?”

“Obviously.”

“Well then maybe you should work on having a better relationship with your TARDIS, seeing as they’re not meant to be controlled.” She snapped slightly, pulling down another lever and setting them off again with a jolt. 

Graham glanced in between Yaz and Ryan, who looked about as awkward as he felt. 

“I know you can make her go to Dirus.” The Master said lowly, stepping a lot closer to the other time lord than Graham was used to anyone daring. The Doctor stopped skidding about the console to glare at him. 

“Funnily enough, I’m not willing to jeopardise my relationship with the ship I’ve had for about two-thousand years just because I’m attached to you.” She murmured lowly. 

“Then I’m staying here. We’ll see how far you get.” The Master shrugged, and the Doctor narrowed her eyes. 

“Then I guess this is just a test of strength.” 

“Or stubbornness.” Graham retorted quietly. 

“Graham’s right, you two are both far too stubborn. Someone’s got to give.” Ryan shrugged next to his grandad. 

Graham nodded. He really didn’t know what was going on, but he could sense a lot of unresolved tension between the two time lords- possibly thousands of years worth. 

“Come with me.” The Doctor’s gaze softened slightly. “You’ll like it.”

“I really won’t.” He argued, as the TARDIS jolted to a halt. “Where are we?”

The Doctor moved over to a screen, and bit her lip, as a deeper frown came to her brow. 

“October 1692.” 

“Why’s that bad, Doctor?” Yasmin asked. 

“Colonial Massachusetts.” She sighed deeply. “In the middle of the Salem Witch Trials.”

“Oh I am so coming.” The Master’s entire face lit up. “Maybe I’ll get you tried as a witch.”

“Oh that would just be hilarious.” The Doctor retorted dryly. “You should all get changed into something more appropriate. We’ll be less likely to be accused of satanism if we look slightly normal.” 

“What about you, Doc?” Graham asked, following the others as they made their way out of the console room. 

“No point. I’ll probably give them enough reason to suspect me anyway, any disguise would probably only help me for ten minutes.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugged, and left the two time lords to bicker again. 

-

“I just think it’s weird, that the Doctor won’t even tell us how they ended up together.” Yaz explained, pulling on the bonnet that the TARDIS had offered her. 

“That’s what I was thinking.” Ryan nodded. 

“Maybe he won’t let her tell us? Maybe this is all a trap.” Graham suggested, looking rather pleased at the hat he’d been given. 

“I don’t think so.” Yaz frowned. “He looked as annoyed about the situation as the Doctor. And I mean, if something was wrong, the Doctor would definitely tell us, right?”

“I don’t know, would she?” Graham frowned slightly. “She’s not exactly known for being completely honest when it comes to herself and her past. My guess is the Master is a really big part of her history.”

“And we cant exactly get her on her own to ask her.” Ryan chipped in, putting on a similar hat that was slightly too big for his head. 

“We’ll think of something. She’s the Doctor, she’s always got in under control.” Yaz tried to be positive. 

“Doctor! Don’t!” They heard from up the corridor, and the three turned as their friend opened the door.

“Hey gang! How are you a- ah!” The Doctor doubled over, holding the sides of her head. 

“Doctor!” Yaz gasped, running over and putting a hand on her back. “What’s wrong?”

The Doctor had her eyes squeezed shut, and was groaning in pain. Yaz looked between Ryan and Graham for some help, but they just stared back helplessly. 

Suddenly, the Doctor shot back up as the Master rounded the corner and glowered at her. 

“Stop going that!” He demanded. 

“I thought you were following me!” She held a hand to her head, rubbing at her temple. 

“Why would I be following you?!”

“Because otherwise this would happen!” 

“I’m not going to follow you around the whole day.” He glared, and she only scowled back. 

“I’m not following you around either.”

“How about you follow each other around?” Ryan suggested, and Yaz nodded in agreement. She was already fed up of their bickering, not to mention how out of character it was for the Doctor that she knew. “If one of you wants to go somewhere, you go together.”

The two time lords looked at each other, lips thin and eyes cold. 

“Fine.” The Doctor was the first to give in. “Since I’m the bigger man....woman.” She turned on her heel. “Come on fam.” 

Yaz, Ryan and Graham shuffled past the Master and followed the Doctor up the corridor. Yaz heard a grumble behind her, and then footsteps. 

This was going to be a long day. 

-

The Doctor pushed open the TARDIS doors and stepped out, followed by her entourage. 

They were in another alley, and as she stepped out, she heard yelling from nearby. 

No one was in the streets, and the Doctor noticed that the yelling seemed to be coming from a large building that looked to be in the centre of town- the courtroom she assumed. 

“So what’s the plan, Doc?” Graham asked. 

“Go in there. See what’s going on. See if there’s anyone that needs our help.” She shrugged a little. 

“It’s the witch trials. I imagine a lot of people need our help.” Yaz commented from behind her, and it was enough to turn the Doctor on her heels. 

“Well- about that.” Yaz’s eyebrows raised. “The TARDIS has lead us here because of something that shouldn’t be- aliens, y’know?” They nodded. “But the Salem witch trials- well they’re human history. We have to try and leave them be.”

“No intervening?” Ryan asked. 

“Exactly.”

“But Doctor,” Yaz looked rather crestfallen, “there are so many innocent women that die.” The Doctor sighed. 

“I know, Yaz. And I’m sorry. If I didn’t have too, you know I’d try my best to help every single one. But it’s history. We have to leave it.”

“That’s not stopped us before.” Her friend frowned deeply. 

“But this is a big thing. We slip up we can change everything.” 

Yaz frowned and looked down at her dress and sighed deeply, before nodding. 

“Ok. I understand.” 

The Doctor nodded and turned back around, before heading towards the courtroom. 

She opened the door slowly when they arrived, not wanting to make a scene. However, the time lord really didn’t need to worry about that. 

The room was full- there was about two hundred people in there, all yelling and screaming. The group could’ve walked in banging pots and pans together and no one would have lifted an eyebrow. 

The room was made of wood, and had a large candelabra hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a basic courtroom, with witness stand, bench, and judges stand. 

The group filled into the few remaining seats, and the Doctor finally caught sight of what they were all yelling at. 

A young girl, who couldn’t have been older than 15 was stood in the middle of the floor, crying quietly as a gavel was banged against a wooden stand, and a judge demanded order. 

The Doctor frowned deeply, and glanced across at her friends. Graham and Ryan glanced between each other worriedly. Yaz was watching the girl intently, and looked positively heartbroken. 

The Doctor locked eyes with the Master, who looked serious, and conflicted. He shook his head at her the tiniest bit, and the other time lord turned back to the stand, when the crowd finally calmed down. 

“Abigail Hobbs,” the Judge declared. “I hereby find you guilty of witchcraft. You will be sentenced to death by hanging.” 

The Doctor heard Yaz gasp beside her. 

The crowd erupted once more and the small girl broke down, digging her heels into the ground as she started to be lead away. 

The Doctor swallowed tightly and glanced at Yaz as her friend looked at her pleadingly. 

“Doctor. Please.” She whispered. 

The Doctor looked from her to the Master behind her. 

“Don’t you dare.” He threatened. The Doctor stood up. “Doctor!” 

“Stop!” The Doctor leapt up onto her chair and yelled over the crowd. Silence fell over them, and suddenly the only noise in the room was the Doctor’s breathing and Abigails quiet sobs. The Doctor jumped off of her seat, and she heard the Master curse in Gallifreyan as he stood up as well. “Go searching.” The Doctor whispered to her friends, who nodded. “Look for anything alien. Don’t get distracted.”

“Doctor.” Yaz caught her hand as the time lord moved to walk away. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” The Doctor made her way down to the floor with the Master in tow. 

“I hate you.” He whispered. The Doctor only ignored him as she stepped up and towards the judge.

“Your honour! I hate to interrupt, but we are witch-finders. Best of the best, all the way from England. And I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong woman.” She flashed her psychic paper the judges way, and he narrowed his eyes to look at it. 

“Witch-finders assistant.” He repeated back to her. “So, you must be the witch-finder General.” He glanced towards the Master as the Doctor scrunched up her nose and looked at her paper. 

“Wha-?”

“Uh- oh. Yes.” The Master nodded. “I am. My name is...John. John Smith. And- and this, is my...assistant.”

“Madeline.” The Doctor supplied. “The ‘e’ is silent.”

“We weren’t expecting any visitors.” The judge surveyed them from the end of his nose. 

“Well, we heard about your witch trials, and had to come on down. See what was going on.” The Doctor shrugged. She spared a glance towards her friends, and saw them filing out of the courtroom in search of anything out of the ordinary. 

“Yes. And you’ve got the wrong woman. As..Madeline said.” The Master nodded in Abigail’s direction, and the judge scoffed. 

“How do you know?” He asked. “Another witch told us she was in league with Satan.”

“We are, incredibly versed in the art of witch-finding.” The Doctor nodded. “Don’t you grant a blessing to any witch who rats out their accomplices?”

“Indeed, madam.” 

“Well then, how do you know she didn’t just say it was Abigail to be granted that? Besides that confession, have you actually got any evidence to suggest she’s a witch?”

“She admitted it.” The Judge frowned sternly. 

“Of course she did. She’s a child. She’s afraid.” The Doctor argued, and the judge’s eyes narrowed. 

“I don’t like the way you speak to me, madam.” The Judge turned slightly to the Master. “What is your relationship to this woman, Mr Smith?” 

“My assistant.” The Master nodded. “Or- more like my..partner. We work together.” He pocketed his hands. 

“Is that all?” 

The Doctor glanced at the Master, who shrugged slightly. 

“Also my wife.” 

“Hm. As I suspected.” The Judge looked down his nose at the Doctor, who sighed deeply. “Well Mr Smith, if you hadn’t noticed, no woman is to be trusted at the moment. I’d advise you to keep your wife quiet, or perhaps she will end up, the accused.”

“You calling me a witch?” The Doctor asked. 

“I’m simply hypothesising, Mrs Smith.” The Judge shot back icily. 

“I honestly don’t even know why I try.” She muttered, digging her sonic out of her pocket and holding it behind her back. “When I say go, we get Abigail and we go, yeah?” She whispered. 

“Fine.” He sighed. The Doctor angled her sonic upwards and pressed down. She watched as the chain on the large candelabra hanging from the ceiling loosened. “Go!”

The chain slipped and the candelabra came crashing down. The two time lords skidded towards Abigail in the commotion that quickly ensued, who was being lead away by two men. 

“Abigail!” The Doctor reached out a hand and the young girl took it with both. She was heavy, chains between her wrists dragging her down as the Doctor wrenched the young girl from the men’s grip, who’d turned in the direction of the door. 

The men turned and their eyes widened. 

“Oi!”

The Doctor felt a larger hand grip hers, and then the three of them were sprinting towards the door at the front of the courtroom. They got there before anyone else did, as they were still trying to climb out of the stands as the wooden floor went up in flames. 

For a moment, the Doctor regretted her decision, before she saw people already swarming around it with buckets of water. 

The Master ducked round a corner and she followed, gripping Abigail’s hand tightly. 

The three of them shuffled side on into a narrow opening, with opened up into a wider alleyway. 

The Doctor let go of their hands and panted, trying to catch her breath.

“Th- thank you.” Abigail caught her breath, eyes wide with confusion. “Why did you do that?”

“I don’t believe in witches.” The Doctor pointed her sonic at the tight manacles around the young girls wrist and they dropped off. 

Abigail’s eyes widened even more as she rubbed at her wrists and took a step back. 

“What is that?”

“Nothing to worry about. Technology from England.” 

“Thank you.” The young girl smiled gratefully. “But..what am I going to do now? I can’t go back there.”

“Do you have a family?” The time lord asked. 

“Yes. But they were all accused too. I don’t know if they’re going to make it.”

“Then stick with us.” The Doctor smiled reassuringly. “We have more friends. We’re all here to help.”

The young girl frowned slightly, before nodding. 

“Ok.” She agreed. “Are you really witch-finders?”

“No. And my names not really Madeline. I’m the Doctor, and this is the Master. We’re here looking for aliens.”

“Aliens?” Abigail repeated. “What do you mean?”

“Well, besides from the witch trials, have you seen anything strange going on?” The young girl swallowed tightly and looked down. 

“Yes, actually. I have.”

-

“Guys, look at this.” Ryan beckoned them over. Yaz and Graham followed him over to a front door, ladened with some kind of clear goo. 

“What do you think it is?” Yaz asked, reaching out to touch it. Graham grabbed her hand. 

“Don’t touch it!”

“Why not? The Doctor would have.”

“That’s cuz the Doctor’s the Doctor. You’re human. It could be dangerous.”

“It’s on a human’s front door. I doubt it’s toxic.” Yaz argued.

“Should we go in?” Ryan asked. “I mean, whoever lives here isn’t it. Everyone’s in the courtroom.”

“I dunno. I didn’t see many children in there. There might still be people around.” Yaz frowned. “Besides, how are we going to get in? We don’t have a sonic.”

“We’re in the 17th century.” Ryan shrugged. “I doubt their knowledge on locks is very advanced. It’s probably just one of them lift up jobs.”

“Still-“

“You two.” Graham patted them both on the arms rather urgently. Ryan glanced at his granddad, and followed his gaze to the town hall. 

Which was smoking. 

Yaz gasped. 

“The Doctor might still be in there!” She started off back towards the courtroom, and the two men followed hastily. 

“Yaz wait!” 

The three of them jogged back towards the courtroom, that people were now flooding out of. 

Ryan was worried out of his mind already, but tried to reassure himself that the Doctor was smart enough then let herself get stuck in a burning hall. 

They’d almost got there, when three people ran out of an alleyway and slammed into them side on. 

“Doctor!” Yaz gasped. 

“Yaz! Fam!” She grinned, panting. “Good to see you.”

“We thought you were still in there.” Ryan explained hastily. “What happened?”

“Did you save Abigail?” Graham chipped in. 

“Yeah. She’s ok.” The Doctor gestured behind her and Ryan regraded the scared young woman. “We were heading towards where she said she’d seen something out of the ordinary.”

“Yeah, well,” Graham pointed back the way they’d came. “Back there, we found this weird goo on a door. Didn’t seem normal.”

“Aw! Brilliant! Well done gang. We’ll get some on the way there.” The Doctor set off again, and the mismatched group shared glances and followed behind her. 

-

The Master fell into step with the Doctor as they wandered up the road, sticking close to alleyways that they could bundle Abigail into if anyone looking for her came by. 

Luckily for them, most people were still dealing with the smoking courtroom. 

“You know what you’ve done, don’t you?” He pocketed his hands. 

“Yes. I do. Realised it the minute I stood up.”

“You know she can’t survive this.”

“Why not? Who says?” She sighed quietly, keeping their voices hushed. 

“History, Doctor. She’s not supposed to be here.”

“She’s a child.”

“She has a destiny.” He reasoned. The Doctor shook her head. 

“No one has a destiny. We can change things. It’s not like it’s a negative change. One more life saved.”

“One life that all the history books currently disagree with.”

“Not anymore.” She shrugged off, and it was clear that the conversation was over. 

“It’s this one, Doc.” Graham pointed to a door on the right hand side, and the Doctor pushed ahead to scan it with her sonic. 

“This is my house.” Abigail said quietly. “It’s the same slime.”

“What do you mean?” Yaz asked. 

“Three nights ago..I..I saw a creature. Leaving my window. It left the same slime behind. If it hadn’t I think I would’ve put it down to my imagination. I didn’t realise it was on my door too.”

The Master watched the cogs turning in her mind as the Doctor frowned deeply. 

“Can we come in, Abigail?”

-

“So what did this creature look like Abigail?” The Doctor asked, scanning the room around her as she stepped into the young girls bedroom. 

“Like..a man. I don’t know. It had long, thin limbs. And points instead of hands and feet. It was thinner than a man, maybe..two hands wide.” She shrugged. 

“Sounds creepy.” Graham commented. 

“And you say it left slime?”

“I suppose. It didn’t look very slimy. But, it must have done.” 

The Doctor glanced at her sonic, frowning. 

“Definitely alien. Not anything I’ve ever encountered if your description is anything to by.” She murmured, before glancing at the Master. “You?”

“No.” He shook his head from where he was stood, being very unhelpful by the door. “I’ve got nothing.”

“Well if you two are stumped, the odds aren’t very good for the rest of us.” Graham quipped. 

“Alright Graham, I’m working on it.” The Doctor opened the window. “Abigail, where does this lead?”

“Into the wood. My house is on the edge of the town.”

“Did your parents see anything?” Yaz asked, following the Doctor over to the windowsill. 

“They said they didn’t, but they believed me.” Abigail cleared her throat. “That’s not the strangest part though.”

The Doctor turned, curiosity peaking. 

“What was then?”

Abigail sighed and made her way over to a small cupboard, opening it up and taking down a thin, translucent vial.

“It left this here. It was covered in it’s slime when I found it the morning after.” The Doctor took it from the young girl, scanning it. 

“Do you know what it is?” Ryan asked. 

“It’s a poison. The town have found the same vials in every woman’s house that has been accused of witchcraft. All of them have denied it being theirs.”

The Doctor frowned when her results came back inconclusive. She uncorked it and held it away from her friends, breathing in a whiff. 

“Doctor! Don’t sniff it.” Yaz scolded. 

“I didn’t believe them,” Abigail continued, “until it appeared in my room. They’re always used as evidence to persecute the witches, so I hid mine.”

“Smart girl.” The Doctor murmured absently, before crossing the room to the Master. “Smell that.”

He reached out and took a hesitant sniff. 

“Familiar.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“How do you know it’s poisonous?” The Master asked the girl, taking the vial from the other time lord and turning it over in his fingers. 

“We tested it..in court. A woman I knew, Anne, was accused. Her husband drank it to prove she wasn’t a witch. But..he..” she swallowed tightly. “The towns doctor said it burnt his insides out.”

“Could be anything.” The Master shrugged. 

“Bleach?” Graham suggested. 

“The question is, why is this creature leaving them? And what alien is it?” The Doctor frowned deeply at the vial between the Master’s fingers. 

“Have any of the other women reported seeing a similar creature?” Yaz asked Abigail, who nodded. 

“Yes. The first couple tried. But it didn’t help them. The town thought they’d summoned it. They said it was a demon.”

“Not a demon.” The Doctor reassured, opening the window and clambering out. 

“Doctor?” Ryan frowned. “What you doing?”

“It’s a monster, leaving slime wherever it goes. Can’t be that hard to find. Come on.” 

They looked between each other, and when the Doctor began to march ahead, the Master sighed deeply and jumped out after her. 

“Hey, don’t go too far.” She reluctantly waited for him, and the two turned towards the forest once they fell into step. 

The remaining four jumped from the window, and hurried after the two time lords. 

-

“You say you recognise it?” Graham asked the two time lords, slightly ahead of them. “The thing, in the vial, I mean?”

“Yeah. Don’t know where from though.” The Doctor explained, scanning yet another tree. Night was drawing in now, and the only thing lighting their way was the Doctor’s sonic. 

“How come?”

“Cut us some slack Graham, we’re two thousand years old. Smelt a lot of poisonous elixirs.” 

“Have you at least got some kind of ball park we can work with?” He asked. 

“Is it Gallifreyan?” Yaz asked. 

The silence was deafening when the sonic stopped buzzing. Graham watched the two time lords share a dark look in the dusk light. 

“No.” The Doctor said coldly. “It’s not.” She held her gaze with the Master, before pushing in front of them and lighting the way once again. 

Graham looked disapprovingly at Yaz, who shrugged helplessly and mouthed a ‘sorry.’

They continued walking for a while in silence, where the Master slowly fell back into step with the Doctor. 

“Are we on the right trail, Doctor?” Yaz asked, as a clear kind of peace offering. The time lord seemed to mull over for a second, and then nodded, tone returning to its bright, bubbly self. 

“Yep! Whatever this creature is, it’s not very good at covering its tracks.”

“Wait.” The Master grabbed the Doctor’s wrist, and the other stopped. “Look. Ahead. Torches.”

“You four, hide now.” The Doctor turned and quickly ushered Abigail behind a bush. 

“What? Why us?” Graham asked. 

“People are going to realise we’re the reason Abigails gone. If we get arrested, we need someone to look after her and carry on looking. Now go!” 

Graham nodded and ushered Ryan and Yaz into the foliage besides Abigail. He held his breath as the torch light grew. 

-

“Ah. Mr and Mrs Smith. How delightful.” The judge from earlier was holding the torch, and had an entourage of people behind him. 

“Oh, hello, Mr...” the Doctor began. 

“Stoughton. William Stoughton.”

“Oh.” The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Yes. You’re the one who runs the witch trials. I didn’t realise you were also a judge.”

“I do what I have too.” He shrugged. “What are you two doing out so late at night?”

“Evening stroll. Lovely town you’ve got here.” The Doctor wrapped her hands around the Master’s forearm with an innocent smile. “What are you doing out?”

“Looking for Abigail Hobbs. The witch that escaped the courtroom this morning, when the candelabra fell.”

“Oh, really? We didn’t realise she’d escaped.” The Doctor gasped, “did we, love?”

“No.” The Master shook his head. “If we had we would’ve been out looking with you.”

“Hm.” William frowned at the two of them. “You say you’re witch-finders. Yet you aren’t out looking for them.”

“Witch-finders need days off too y’know. It gets tiring- warding off Satan all day.” The Doctor shrugged. 

“Mr Smith, may I say,” William turned to the Master, “with the upmost respect, that you’re wife, is rather...obnoxious.” 

“His wife is also not deaf.” The Doctor snapped. 

“And disrespectful.” William added for good measure. 

“Yes. She is.” The Master tossed a smug look in the Doctor’s direction, and she opened her mouth to argue back, “but that is why I married her.”

The Doctor shut her mouth and let out a quiet noise of surprise. “Now, my good sir, with the upmost respect, I would appreciate if if you would not, insult my wife. We came to your town to do a job and help you, and all my poor Madeline has got in return is disrespect. You ought to be ashamed.”

“I apologise, Mr Smith, I simply meant-“

“We know the King of England, sir.” He practically spat the word. “We’re his most trusted witch-finders, sent to help you. I will not hesitate to tell him of your hostility.”

“I apologise, sir. It won’t happen again.” William backed down. 

“Good. Now if you don’t mind, my wife and I would like to finish our walk, in peace.” 

“Of course. We’ll leave you to it.”

“And if you’re lucky, maybe we’ll tell you where the real witch is here.” The Doctor added as the man and his group shuffled past awkwardly. “Because you might have a bigger issue than women.”

“Yes. One woman if you had anything to do with it.” The Master shot at her, and she shrugged as William nodded respectfully and hurried up the path. 

The Doctor let go of his arm with a loud sigh. 

“Bloody sexism.” The Master muttered as the others re-appeared from the bush. 

“I know right! It’s so annoying.” The Doctor groaned. 

“Jesus Doc.” Graham huffed. “How often you deal with people like that?”

“Didn’t realise how bad it was till I became a woman.” She shrugged. 

“You people talk, so strangely.” Abigail shook her head. Suddenly, there was movement in the foliage beside them, and Abigail gasped, rushing to the Doctor’s side.

“Stay behind me.” She pushed herself in front of the others, taking her sonic to the bush. 

There was what sounded like a growl behind the bush, and the Doctor gasped as the creature stood upright. 

“Oh. Hello there.” She breathed out. 

The creature was around eight foot tall, and a deep black, oozing with slime. It was thin, with razor sharp points for hands and feet like Abigail had described. It’s eyes towered above the Doctor, bright white orbs against its black body. It seemed to have no mouth, until it’s lips raised into a smile, and revealed a set of pearly white fangs. It looked like every young child’s nightmare. 

“You are beautiful.” The Doctor whispered. 

“It- it’s a demon.” Abigail hiccuped behind her. “Oh lord, please don’t let it take me. I promise to repent all my sins and-“

“No ones going to take you Abigail.” The Doctor reassured, not taking her eyes off of the alien. “Who are you?” She whispered. 

“I, am Raloaka.” It growled out, and the Doctor tilted her head slightly. 

“And why are you on Earth, Raloaka?”

“Humans.” It growled back. “Weak. So easy to get rid of.”

“There! She’s summoned the Devil!” The Doctor turned to hear a voice up the path, only to find William and his gang coming back up the trail. The Raolaka immediately turned and fled back into the bush, leaving a pool of slime behind. 

“Oh come on!” The Doctor groaned, before turning to her companions. “Get Abigail safe. Don’t let them take her.”

“What about you, Doctor?” Yaz frowned, and the time lord squeezed her hand. 

“I’ll be fine. Go.”

They turned and ran back into the forest, and the Doctor turned as the chants of witch!’ reached her ears. 

“Mr Smith.” She turned to the Master who was still stood beside her. 

“Mrs Smith.” He held out an arm, and she took it. 

“You’re coming with us Madeline. You’re in league with the Devil.” William reached the two of them and spat at her. 

“Lead the way, Mr Stoughton.” She held her head high as she was grabbed and dragged away from the Master. She began to be hauled in the other direction, as the Master was held back to talk to William. 

When the Doctor realised they were about to be split up, she dug her heels into the dirt. 

“Wait wait wait! You can’t split me with him! We need to be together!”

The Master looked across at her, remembrance and realisation crossing his face. 

“Oh- right. Yes! We can’t be apart.”

“Why not?” William frowned deeply, and the Doctor struggled to keep herself rooted to the ground. 

“It’s a- Uh-“ the Master stuttered for a moment. “She gets scared.” He blurted out. “She may be a witch, good sir, but are you really going to stop a scared young girl from staying with her husband?”

“She’s in league with the Devil, Mr Smith!”

“Well I’m not. And I demand to be kept with my wife.” The Master snapped at him. “Stop us from communicating all you like. But let us stay within eyesight of one another. Man to man.”

William mulled it over for a second, and the Master was starting to just be that bit too far away. The Doctor squeezed her eyes shut as the ringing started in her skull, like her entire brain was vibrating.

“Fine. Until she has been proved guilty, you can stay together. Just no talking.”

“Thank you, my good man. Your kindness will be reported to the king.” The other time lord jogged the little way to stop the ringing, and the Doctor raised her feet, pushing the two men off of her slightly. 

“I can walk very well by myself thank you.” She snapped. 

Sometimes, being a woman was hard. 

-

Yaz sighed and poked the small fire in Abigails front room. 

“What’s going to happen to the Doctor?” Graham asked the young girl from the corner of the room. 

“She will be tried as a witch, probably tonight. She’ll be executed in the morning.” 

“How? Dunking?” Ryan asked. “That’s what I learnt they did in History. If they drowned they were innocent but if they lived they were guilty, right?”

“Maybe in England. Not here though. She’ll be hung.” Abigail said quietly. 

“She can get herself out of that though..right?” Ryan glanced between the two of them. Yaz bit her lip. 

“I think so.”

“And even if she can’t, the Master wouldn’t let her be hung.....right?” Graham frowned. 

They looked between each other, silently for a moment. 

“Yeah we should go.”

“Definitely.”

“I agree.”

“We should all get some sleep. It will be a long day tomorrow if it’s anything like this.” Abigail said. 

“Won’t we miss her execution?”

“No. They ring bells. It’s a very big thing. We’ll hear it.” The girl reassured, retrieving blankets and quilts from a small basket in the corner of the room. “What is your plan?”

“Uh..” Yaz smiled and mumbled a thanks as she was given a blanket. “Maybe..cause a distraction?”

“Well your best bet, if you are going to try and save her, is to wait until she’s got the noose around her neck. There won’t be anyone holding her.”

“Cutting it a bit close there, wouldn’t you say?” Graham frowned. 

“You can try now if you want. But you won’t get far. Stoughton seems to have a personal dislike towards the Doctor, and he’s a very stubborn man. He won’t let her get away at the trial.”

“She’s right.” Ryan nodded. “Besides, we need to be here to stay with you. Just in case that thing comes back.”

“Ryan.” Yaz scolded, afraid he would scare the young girl. 

“Will it?” Abigail looked concerned, and Yaz squeezed her shoulder a little. 

“No. I doubt it. But even if it does, we’ll be here to protect you. And bright and early in the morning, we’ll be down there and we’ll save the Doctor. Then she can get rid of the alien.”

“You sound very sure of your friend.” Abigail said quietly, lying down on the floor and throwing a quilt over her. 

“I am. I’d trust her with my life.” Yaz settled next to her and stared up at the ceiling. “I just hope she’s ok.”

-

The Master drummed his fingers on the desk, watching as a man screamed at the Doctor, waving his finger in her face. She watched, unimpressed. 

“This witch was talking to the Devil himself!!” He accused. “I saw it with my own eyes!!”

Half of the town had filed into the courtroom late that evening to hear the Doctor’s trial. Whilst some of the walls were charred and stained with smoke, for the most part it was still usable. 

“Have you anything to say in your defence, witch?” William asked her from the end of his long nose. 

The Doctor shrugged. 

“Would you listen, even if I did?”

“So you admit you were conversing with Satan?”

“No.” She said sternly. 

“Very well.” He waved her off, and the Master sighed deeply. 

He would never understand why the Doctor bothered with the inhabitants of Earth. It angered him to know they knew so little of her. 

The Master liked races that knew of the Doctor. He liked races that told stories of her escapades, thought of her as a legend, a figure of faith. 

The humans had no comprehension of who they were speaking down upon. The mind in that head was 100x faster and more powerful than William Stoughton could ever comprehend. 

If only they knew the things she’d seen, the secrets she held, the knowledge of all of time and space. If only they knew how brilliant she was, how easily she could crush them. 

‘You need to calm down.’ He heard her voice echoing through his thoughts. ‘I can feel your anger from over here.’

‘How can you stand it? The way they treat you. If only they knew who you were.’

‘It doesn’t matter. I’m a nobody to humans.’

‘Then why do you bother with them?’ He frowned at her, but she only blinked back slowly at the woman who was now accusing her of cursing her entire family. 

‘It gets tiring being a legend. Always afraid I won’t live up to expectation.’ 

“Any final evidence?” William asked. 

“Yes!” A man stepped up to the witness stand, and the Master ran a hand over his face. “I found this in the witches pocket.” He held up her sonic, and the Doctor sighed deeply. “I fear she may have used it to bring down out candelabra and free her accomplice.”

“Madam? What is this device?” William demanded, taking it from the man. 

“It’s from England.” She shrugged. “Gift from the king. If you’re gonna kill me, could you at least give it to my husband? For safe keeping?”

William frowned at her, looking the sonic over. 

“Fine. I will have it given to him.”

“Thanks, Will. Appreciate it.”

“That’s Mr Stoughton, to you.” The old man glowered at her, before slamming the gavel down. “Madeline Smith, I find you guilty of witchcraft, and sentence you to hanging this very dawn.”

The Doctor rolled her eyes. 

“Didn’t see that one coming.”

-

‘What is your plan?’ The Master’s question rang in the Doctor’s head as she was hauled towards Gallows hill- a fitting name if she was asked. 

‘Not really got one. Get out of the noose?’

‘How are you going to do that?’ He asked.

‘Can you cause a distraction once I get dropped?’ She asked. He didn’t reply for a moment. 

‘Yeah. Your friends are coming up the hill. I’ll come up with something.’ The Doctor grinned to herself. 

‘I do love you sometimes.’ 

‘You repulse me all of the time.’ He cut off communication, and the Doctor rolled her eyes fondly. 

She was pushed the rest of the way up the hill, where Stoughton was stood, rather forebodingly. 

“Any last wishes, witch?” 

“Yeah. Can you not put a bag over my head?” She asked. “I love a challenge but I’m not feeling one right now. I mean, my hands are already behind my back. Not made it easy for me to escape.”

“You do speak nonsense, heathen, but fine. Your wish will be granted.” He grabbed ahold of her wrist, pulling her up to the gallows. 

The Doctor looked up past the yelling crowd. The Master was stood watching. Yaz, Ryan, Graham, and a figure in a cloak who the Doctor assumed must have been Abigail were gathered around him, heads together. 

She smiled and nodded at the Master. 

He nodded back. 

-

“Do we do it now?” Yaz asked, as the noose was placed around the Doctors neck. 

“No.” He said cooly. 

“Now?” She asked, as the Doctor stepped forward onto the trap door. 

“No.”

“Now?!” She hissed, as a man put his hands around the lever. 

“Just shut up.” He hissed. “I know what I’m doing.” 

Yaz frowned deeply besides him. 

“She’s going to die if we don’t do it now.” Ryan tried to argue behind him. 

“No. She’s not.” 

He stopped listening. Heard only the beating of her hearts. 

The man pulled the lever. 

He heard her take a deep breath in. 

The Doctor dropped like a stone. 

1.

Silence. 

2.

“Master.” 

3.

“Master!”

4.

“What are you doing!?”

5.

“She’s dying!”

6.

“Do it!”

7.

The Master raised the sonic and aimed it at the tree besides them. A branch exploded and sparked, the crowd turning with various screams and yells. 

Branches fell and burnt, but the Master didn’t watch. 

He listened. 

He did not hear the screams and prayers and accusations that she must have really been a witch. 

He listened for life. 

Silence. 

Any second now.

Silence.

Almost.

Silence. And then:

A deep breath out. 

“Where is the witch?!” A woman shrieked. 

“Looking for me?” The crowd’s eyes shot up, at the Doctor, leaning from a branch in the tree behind the gallows, not a scratch on her face. “You think a noose would stop me?” She scrunched up her nose and swung back down, landing elegantly on her feet opposite the old man. “You’re a fool, William Stoughton.” 

The man was pale and breathing heavily, eyes wide. 

“S- Satan-“

“No. Not Satan. I’m the Doctor.” She grinned. “And you have got some serious nerve.”

-

“There! That should get them to leave us alone for a bit!” The Doctor parted the sea of people as she headed towards her friends. They were silent as they watched. 

“You took your time.” The Master drawled. 

“You were dead on.” She grinned, pulling him close once she reached him. 

The Doctor pressed a sound and fierce kiss to his lips, one that he responded to immediately. 

She pulled away too quickly though, even for her.

“Later.” He shrugged. 

“If you’re lucky.” She muttered, before shoving him away playfully and turning to her friends with a grin. 

All three blinked back at her, mouths wide open. 

“Come on, no time to waste. Alien still on the loose.” 

She started to make her way down the hill, and the Master followed. 

“Hang on!” Yaz ran after them, Ryan, Graham and Abigail following. “I have a lot of questions right now.”

“Yeah, like how did you survive that?” Graham asked, skidding slightly down the mud. “You were hanging there for like ten seconds.”

“Seven actually.” The Doctor corrected. “And it’s called a respiratory bypass.”

“A respi- Wha?” Graham blinked. 

“Time lords. We have a respiratory bypass. Basically..we can hold our breath for longer than you.” 

“Of course. Two hearts, better lungs. Why not?” Graham muttered to himself behind her. 

“Not better lungs. Just a bypass.” She corrected. 

“Why did you take so long to shoot the tree?” Yaz snapped slightly at the Master. 

“Oh yeah, on that note,” the other time lord threw her sonic up in the air, which she caught with one hand and pocketed. 

“Thanks.”

“I waited seven seconds.” He explained with a shrug. “Her record of getting out of rope bindings.”

“Houdini taught me well.”

“I seem to remember you getting down to a six.” He prodded teasingly. 

“Alright, bit out of practice. No need to rub it in.” She shoved him in the shoulder. 

“I have a question.” Ryan piped up. “When did you two get so buddy? Cuz like 24 hours ago you were yelling at each other.”

“Yeah. You two seem to work well when you’re not bickering.” Yaz agreed. “Maybe..a lot better than we know. Are you two..dating?”

“No.” They both chorused. 

“Just..old.” The Doctor shrugged. “Seen things no one else has. Experienced the same things. Lost, a lot.” 

“We’re probably married, now that I think about it.” The Master frowned. “We were never sure we didn’t get married on Tighel, were we?”

“We were very drunk.” The Doctor nodded. “And you had eaten a bad berry.”

“I hated that berry.”

“Ok, Hang on.” Yaz stopped in her tracks, hands coming up. “Let me get this straight.” The Doctor stopped, watching her expectantly. “You two have history? Like...romantic history?”

“Yeah.” The Doctor nodded slowly. 

“And nobody else thinks that’s the slightest bit strange since he tried to blow us up like a month ago?” She asked. 

“Like the Doc said Yaz, they’re just old.” Graham shrugged. Yaz shot him a look like he was crazy. 

The Doctor sighed a little, ushering the human over to fall into step with her. Yaz did as the hill flattened out and the group started heading back towards the forest. 

“Think of it like this Yaz. High-school sweetheart. You’re together, you’re young. You make each other feel alive. You get older, grow, and you grow apart. You’re teenagers, still trying to figure yourself out. So you break up, and end up really hating each other. You see them again every now and then, and you still don’t like each other, because they remind you of a time where you didn’t quite understand yourself. But they still make you feel alive, from time to time. It would never work as a relationship, because you’re not compatible. But it’s enough, to remind you every now and then, that you’re alive.”

Yaz nodded slowly. 

“We’re like that. Just, over thousands of years.” The Doctor concluded. 

“You need reminders that you’re alive?” Yaz looked utterly devastated by the prospect of her friend feeling like that, and the Doctor sighed, afraid she’d said a bit too much. 

“I’m old Yaz. I’ve lost, a lot. I’ve done bad things. People have died because of me. Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of why I still do this.”

“But why can’t you come to us about that kind of thing? Why do you have to go to him?” She asked. The Doctor glanced back at the others. Graham, Ryan and Abigail were all listening intently, clearly as interested as Yaz, but just lest vocal. 

“It’s not the same. You know I love you guys. But you’re not time lords. You could try to understand what it’s like to live and love and lose for two thousand years, but you’ve never done it. He has.”

Yaz frowned, but nodded. 

“He’s not the best option, by far. But he’s the only one I’ve got.”

“I’m literally standing right here.”

“I know.” 

-

“You’re sure?” The Doctor asked, and Graham nodded. 

“I checked. It didn’t come back last night.”

“Then it must still be here somwhere.” She sighed. “I’m just annoyed. Why is it taking me so long to find out what the Raloaka wants?” The Doctor huffed, scanning yet another plant for any sign of it’s tell-tale goo. “Is there just one? Does it just want world domination? And if so, why is it going about it by planting alien poison in unsuspecting woman’s homes in the middle of the 17th century?”

“Doc,” Graham breathed, patting her on the shoulder as she threw her arms up in the air. “Why don’t you ask it yourself?”

The Doctor spun on her heel, and gasped happily. 

The large creature was stood forebodingly over the group, dripping with slime. 

“There you are!” She grinned, stepping towards it. “Many questions.”

“Ask away, Doctor.”

The Doctor seemed taken aback, that it knew her name, but she ploughed on.

“Are there more of you?”

“Yes. I am first. I colonise the planet for my brethren.” It growled, voice sounding like how scales felt. 

“You’re a recon-scout?” The time lord repeated back. 

“I am a warrior.”

“So you want Earth?”

“Yes.” It confirmed, and the Doctor let out a noise of confusion. 

“Why are you doing that in the 17th century? And why are you doing it by putting poison in women’s houses?”

“The human race, is foolish. I needn’t be a martyr. They will destroy one another.” Realisation dawned on the time lords face, and she smacked herself in the forehead. 

“Of course! Ugh! I’m so- slow. I am slow.”

“Doctor. I don’t understand.” Abigail said, voice quivering. 

“For the Raloaka to colonise this planet, they want the humans gone.” She turned away from the creature to explain, and Graham was amazed in her trust that it wasn’t going to eat her. “But one Raloaka against 7 billion humans? No chance.” She turned back towards the alien. “So, what do you do? Travel through time to the lowest points in humanities history, and you cause more death?”

“Indeed.”

“I still don’t get it.” Graham frowned deeply. 

“The Raloaka doesn’t have to kill anyone. It just has to plant evidence and wait for humans to destroy one another. You walk out with a semi-liveable planet and clean hands.”

“The humans are foolish. They are easy to convince.” It growled out what sounded like a chuckle. 

“Yeah well, I’m not. And this planet is under my protection. You’re not moving here.”

“Earth will be the Raloakan’s.”

“You know who I am, don’t you?” She set an icy stare on the creature. 

“You are the Doctor. The Renegade. The Oncoming Storm. War Hero. What you did to Gallifrey is greatly respected in our home.”

“I’m not a war hero.” Her tone was low and serious all of a sudden. Graham’s eyes widened and he glanced at Yaz and Ryan, who were still staring at the Doctor. 

“You killed the time lords. It takes great strength to do such a thing.” The Raloaka growled back. 

Yaz gasped. 

“No. I saved the time lords.” She shook her head, fists clenching at her side. 

Graham swallowed tightly. 

It couldn’t be true. The Doctor wouldn’t have done such a thing to her own people. Right? 

“You blew up the planet.”

“And then I stopped it. I saved Gallifrey. I protected it, and I’m protecting Earth too.”

“You will not stop the colonisation.” 

“Oh I will. I’m a legend in your home, mate. And everything they’ve told you, it’s true.” 

“The Raloakan’s tell stories to their young of your victories. How you killed the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Time Lords, so that we can be stronger. So that one day, we will beat you.”

“Good luck with that. You’re not getting to this planet.” She seethed. 

“We’ll see about that, Doctor.” The Raloaka vanished back into the grass, and the Doctor swallowed tightly, fists still clenched. 

“Doctor..” Ryan was the first to speak, nervous at her reaction. She clenched her jaw in response, and the Master sighed. 

“I can feel your fury from here.” He said cooly. 

“Because it’s not true!” She snapped. Graham blinked, and looked at Yaz and Ryan, who looked as shocked at her outburst. 

“Yes it is.” The Master responded cooly. 

“You know what I mean.” She threw her arms in the air. “Two thousand years. Two thousand years helping people! Saving lives! As many as I could! And what do I get in return?” She spat. “My legends are ones of my hatred.” The Doctor took a shaky breath and looked up at the sky. That was when Graham noticed she was crying. “I didn’t want this. I didn’t want people to tell stories about me.” She clenched her jaw again, flipping back and forth through emotions on a level Graham had only ever seen with the Master. “All I ever wanted to do, was help!” She yelled at the sky, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I have been helping you, for two thousand damned years!! And this is the thanks I get?! Why don’t you ever give me anything?! When will enough be enough for you?!” 

The Doctor was caught off guard, when a set of arms wrapped around her and tugged her close to a chest. 

She gasped slightly and stifled a sob, burying her head into the Master’s chest. Her fists loosened and she put a hand to his chest, tapping out the heartbeats she felt there as some kind of distraction, and breathing deeply. 

“When will it?” She asked quietly. 

“I don’t know, my love. I don’t know.” He murmured. 

-

“I can’t believe she snapped like that.” Yaz sat, dumbfounded on a rock. 

“That’s never happened before?” Abigail asked quietly. 

“No. I’m sorry you had to see it.”

“Is it true, do you think?” Ryan asked, picking apart a strand of grass. “That she killed all those creatures? Her own species?”

“I don’t know.” Yaz considered. “But we shouldn’t take it at face value. I’m sure the situation was a lot more complicated than the Raloaka was making it out to be. And said that she fixed it- that she saved Gallifrey.”

“Yeah. You’re probably right.” Ryan nodded slowly. “You alright, Grandad?” He turned to Graham. “You’re quiet.” 

“I just..” Graham shrugged slightly. “I feel awful.”

“For what?”

“I mean, it all makes sense, doesn’t it? If everything we just found out is true, it explains everything. Why she never talks about her past, why she acts so happy and bubbly all the time, why she wouldn’t take us to Gallifrey, and why she’s so against weapons. Why she said the Master was her only option. They’re the only two Time Lords left.” 

“Oh my god.” Yaz whispered. 

When Graham laid it out like that, it felt like a punch to the stomach. Not only did Yaz feel like she’d been lied to, in a way, but she also felt devastated. 

“She could’ve talked to us about it, instead of bottling it up.” She sighed. 

“It’s got to be hard.” Ryan shrugged helplessly. 

“But she knows we’d always be there for her. Doesn’t she?” 

“I think so.” Graham nodded. “I get why she didn’t though.” Yaz sighed and nodded. 

“Me too. It just, I dunno. Hurts a bit.”

“I know. But we have to try and be there for the Doc now.” Graham squeezed her shoulder. “That way, she knows that if she needs too, she really can come to us to talk about this kind of thing.”

“She probably didn’t want us to find out like this.” Ryan rubbed the back of his neck. “I bet she wanted to tell us herself.”

“Would she have though?” Yaz sighed. 

“I don’t know.” 

-

The Doctor watched the water flow around the stones in the brook, and wiped her eyes. 

The Master had taken control after her little, shameful breakdown. He’d told the rest of the gang to take five and stay where they were, and for the Doctor to come with him. 

She’d been slightly reluctant, since she knew the Raloaka was still in the forest somwhere, but he promised they wouldn’t go out of earshot. 

They’d ended up on the bank of a small brook nearby, and had been sat in silence for about ten minutes. 

“It’s not fair.” Her voice came out more strained than she would’ve liked. “I don’t want to be known by my atrocities.” 

“The universe doesn’t seem to take kindly to people who play God, my dear.” He murmured beside her. 

“I never wanted to. I just wanted to help. It’s all I’ve ever tried to do. I just wanted to help people that needed it.”

“With some collateral damage.” He finished. The Doctor shook her head. 

“No.” She frowned deeply, picking up a rock and lobbing it into the stream. “The Daleks, the Cybermen- I always give them the option to go. I don’t want to hurt them. I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone.”

“Not even the Daleks?” He raised an eyebrow skeptically. She looked him in the eye, and sighed. 

“I’m not perfect. Yes, fine. I hate the Daleks. But I’ve always given the option to go. It’s not my fault that they refuse to.”

He sighed a little, and watched her throw another stone into the water. 

“Doctor,” he drawled, “you and I both know, that little episode back there, was not just about what the Raloaka said.” 

“Nope.” She agreed. “But we can’t talk about that.”

“No.” He nodded. 

“Are you ever going to tell me? Or do I still have to figure it out?” 

“I’m not telling you. Trust me Doctor, you need to find out on your own.” 

She sighed out sharply, frustrated. They sat in silence for a moment, as she threw another rock, which was significantly more lacking in luster. 

“Have you ever stopped to consider,” he began. “How many races out there, see you as a saint.”

“I’m not a saint.” She shook her head. 

“They think you are. How many people you’ve saved. As annoying as you are, Doctor, I think the universe needs someone like you. To believe in.”

“Does it?” She sighed, dejected. It was getting harder and harder to believe that. 

The Master frowned at her for a minute, before picking up a stone and throwing it into the water as well. 

“Look at it this way. Earth, some humans follow the teachings in the Bible, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The Bible’s long. Tried to read it once, got incredibly bored.” She scoffed slightly. “But humans, have their own beliefs, but they use that book to enforce them. Some people believe that you should be kind, love everyone and be forgiving, and they use the Bible as a means to justify that.” She nodded. “But some people, believe in hatred. Some people believe that God, will send them to heaven if they make other people’s lives a misery. But the Bible doesn’t say that. It’s just a bunch of words, and everyone takes something different from it.”

“Where are you going with this?” She asked, resorting now to skimming stones across the surface, which he joined in with after a moment. 

“In the universe, you are a figure that many people look up too. Some may look up to your mercy, your courage, your kindness. And some will look up to your moments of hatred, your destruction and your crimes. Because you’re not perfect, Doctor. You’re two thousand years old, you’ve had both.”

‘But how they perceive you, isn’t on you. It’s on them. It’s not a judge of your character, it’s judge of theirs.” She looked at him, her eyes slightly wide as she listened. She had never thought such comforting words would come out of the Masters mouth. 

“That little girl back there. She sees you as the saint come to save her from the big bad wolf. The person who listened and believed her no matter what she said.” He continued. “And your friends, they see you as the personification of everything beautiful that you’ve shown them. They look at you like you hung the stars, because you’ve given them greater meaning. You’ve shown them how wonderful the universe is, and you’ve shown them the best of it, in yourself. They’d follow you to the ends of the galaxies if you needed them too.” 

“Why?” She whispered. “Why are you telling me this?” Her voice was failing her, and the Doctor felt as if none of it mattered anymore. She felt as if he’d explained it all, set her mind at peace for a while. 

“Because, you were right. As much as it pains me to admit it.” He took her stone-throwing hand gently, and the Doctor glanced down at them. “You’re not a good person. But you’re not a bad person. You really are, just an idiot running around, helping people when no one else will. And I think you forget that sometimes.” 

The Doctor took a small breath in, and swallowed. 

“And what about you? How do you see me?”

“Does that matter?” 

“To me? Yes.” She nodded. He sighed slightly at their hands.

“You are, a tricky one for me. The way I see you is solely mine, because no one else could even come close to knowing you like I do. And you know that don’t you?”

“Yes.” Part of her had never wanted to admit it, but she knew he was right. No matter how hard she tried to get rid of him, fill the hole he’d left with other people, it would never work. The Doctor thought it was about time she accepted that, and started appreciating the people she did have for who they were, not what she wanted them to be. 

“I see you as..Theta.” He shrugged slightly. “My Theta. My best friend, and my worst enemy, who I used to skim stones with when I was a child.” 

“Even now?” She asked, voice a broken whisper. “After everything we’ve done?” 

“Even now.” He nodded. She breathed in shakily and pulled herself closer, resting her forehead gently against his. 

“The legends tell tales of the Doctor. But that’s not who you are to me.” 

“Thank you.” She whispered. 

“It’s-“ a scream erupted from the trees, and the Doctor shot up. 

“Abigail.” She gasped, before leaping over a rock and taking off back into the trees. She heard the Master groan behind her, before standing up and following. 

The Doctor raced through the forest, not quite sure which way to turn. 

Come on. Come on. Where were they? 

Another scream, to her left. 

The Doctor just hoped she was fast enough. 

-

“Abigail!” Yaz cried as the Raloaka lifted her by the back of her dress, holding her just above her reach. The young girl was screaming her head off, and the alien only growled back. 

“You were supposed to die!” It yelled. “You have a purpose!”

“Let her go!” Ryan called, attempting fruitlessly to reach the girl. 

“If the puny humans will not kill you, i will do it myself.” The Raloaka chuckled, and Abigail screamed only louder if that was possible. 

“Put. Her. Down.” 

The Raloaka turned, as the Doctor stepped out of the trees, sonic in hand. Her face was clouded with anger, and Yaz hated herself for feeling the tiniest bit afraid. 

“You stopped the humans killing her.”

“I stopped you from killing her. What is it? In the vials?” She demanded. 

“You don’t recognise it, Doctor?” It asked. “I expected you to know Gallifreyan water when you smelt it.” The Doctor looked incredibly taken aback, and glanced at the Master who had appeared at her side. 

“No. I know what Gallifreyan water smells like. That’s not it.” She shook her head. 

“But you recognised it, didn’t you?” It asked, almost excitedly. “Your water, with just enough carbon monoxide in it to kill humans- for the time being. Not the same, but familiar enough.” 

“Doctor, I thought you said it wasn’t from Gallifrey.” Yaz asked quietly. 

“It’s not. It can’t be.” She shook her head. “You can’t have got that from Gallifrey.”

“Because it’s destroyed?” It guessed. 

Yaz gasped slightly when the Doctor nodded. 

“I thought you saved Gallifrey, Doctor?” Ryan frowned. 

“I- I did.” She explained absently, as she stared at the Raloaka. “It..it got destroyed again. I saw it. You can’t have got water from there.” 

“After it was destroyed, many races travelled to Gallifrey to scavenge. The Time Lord’s planet was extremely useful, what with your advanced technology.” The Doctor and the Master exchanged a glance that resembled sorrow. 

“And you scavenged water?” The Master frowned, turning back to the alien. “Why? And why use it here to set up these women as witches?”

“It is a myth on my planet, that water from Gallifrey is what keeps Time Lords regenerating.” When he said no more, the Doctor seemed to have a moment of realisation, and she scoffed. 

“Oh I understand.” She laughed quietly. “You kill off most of the humans, and the ones who are foolish enough to drink the water you leave behind, you plan to enslave.”

“Doc, I’m not quite following.” Graham said quietly. 

“Our mate here, was using water from my home planet, all throughout human history, to kill off humans and turn them into genetically modified time lords. What was your plan then? Enslave them whilst you rule over this planet?”

The Raloaka didn’t reply. 

“Then you can say you defeated the time lords. Defeated me. But of course, real time lords are far too powerful for you to actually control, so you decided to make some of your own. Cheat.”

“We will rule over the time lords.” The Raloaka insisted. 

“No you won’t. I hate to break it to you, but not every legend you hear is true. You think the drinking water turns us into time lords?” She scoffed, and the Master rolled his eyes. 

“Please.” He shook his head. “We’re far smarter than that.”

“I don’t understand.” The Raloaka dropped Abigail, who’d been quietly crying. The girl dropped to the floor, and Yaz caught her the best she could, lowering her to the ground. 

“Your water isn’t turning anyone into time lords. It’s just killing them and leaving you with less slaves.” The Doctor explained dryly to the creature. 

“The plan will still go ahead.” The alien hesitated. 

“No. It won’t.” She shook her head. “This planet, and every other, is under real time lords’ protection. Not any time lords either, the last two. 

And trust me when I say that we are far too old, to have the time and patience to deal with you. So I suggest you go home, stay home, and leave these humans to be just that.”

“The Raloaka will return. The plan will continue with new poison.” 

“We’ll be waiting.” She replied darkly. 

The Raloaka looked towards the sky, and disappeared into the wind. 

The Doctor wasted no time in running towards Abigail, cradling her head as Yaz took her hand. 

“Are you alright Abigail?”

“I- I think so.” The young girl nodded. “Thank you Doctor. Thank you all.” She whispered. 

-

“Where will you go?” The Doctor watched as Yaz shared a hug with the young girl. 

“I don’t know. Somewhere far away from here. My parents were found not guilty. Does that have something to do with you?” She smiled and turned to the Doctor. 

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.” She smiled and hugged the young girl tightly. 

“Thank you Doctor. For everything.”

“No, thank you Abigail. For being strong. And incredible.”

The young girl smiled slightly. 

“Tell me, Doctor. If you really are from the future, can you tell me, are woman always treated like this?”

“No. Sooner than you realise, witches become..nothing but silly superstition.”

“I hope so.” She sighed as the Doctor pulled back. “Goodbye.” 

“Goodbye Abigail.” The Doctor followed her friends out of Abigails door. 

They headed out of her house and back down the street to the alley they’d left the TARDIS in. 

“When do the witch trials end, Doctor?” Ryan asked. 

“May, next year.” She explained. 

“Two hundred killed.” The Master added. 

“One hundred and ninety seven thanks to us.” The Doctor nudged him slightly, shooting him a look. 

“It’s not enough for you.” He pointed out. 

“No. But it’s..something. It’s important.” She said firmly, pushing open the door to the TARDIS. 

He didn’t reply. 

“Right, where to? Sheffield first?” She asked as Graham closed the door behind him. 

“Don’t you have to get your..thingies off?” He asked. 

“Well yeah. Just thought you might want to go home and not come.”

“Course we will. Can’t trust the two of you alone.” Yaz teased, the Doctor scoffing and setting them off. 

She was grateful for her friends not bringing up her little moment..she was pretty sure. The time lord wasn’t really. She didn’t exactly want to talk about it, but she thought they probably should. 

Still, they were silent when the TARDIS jolted to a halt, hitting Dirus soil. 

The Doctor checked it was breathable for the five of them, before stepping out. It looked a lot like Earth’s moon- just with less spacy zoomers. 

“I should take you to the moon sometime.” She closed the door behind her. “Before the Cybermen invasion.”

“Huh?”

“Follow me!” She skipped off towards the only building for miles. 

It was a small hut, which looked like it had been put together by someone who didn’t really know how to build a hut. 

There was a large flat space before it, dotted with space ships. 

“It’s like a port.” Yaz concluded. 

“Selling illegal parts. Supply and demand.” The Doctor shrugged, heading for the shed. 

She was slightly on guard, assuming the man selling these parts outlawed in most galaxies would not be the nicest. 

Knocking on the door, the time lord waited patiently. 

No one answered. 

She knocked again. 

Nothing. 

“Hello?” The traveller called. The door opened. 

A young man was stood, tattoos sprawled across every inch of his skin- bar his face, which was twisted into a scowl. He had small horns sprouting from his hairline. His fingers were littered with rings, and one was holding a gun. 

“Oh. Hello.” The Doctor smiled pleasantly. 

“I wasn’t expecting anyone today.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you the police?”

“Are you even in a policed district here?” The time lord wondered out loud. Graham cleared his throat and the Doctor shook her head, attempting to stay on task. “Uh- no. We’re not. My..friend and I got ourselves in a situation.” 

“What kind of situation?” He scowled. 

“You sold parts to Madam Vastra, right?” 

“The lizard?” She nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

“Well, she made separation manacles with them. Accidentally fired them at us. And now we need you to get them off.” The time lords held out their wrists, and the man lowered the gun. 

“Hm.” He inspected them. “Yes. You do need me.” He ushered them in, and the Doctor skipped inside, whistling lowly at the clutter crowding every wall. 

“This is a lot of illegal stuff, huh?” She commented. “Sorry. Didn’t catch your name.”

“Lor.”

“Right. Good. Hello Lor. I’m the Doctor. This is the Master, Ryan, Yaz and Graham.”

“I don’t care.” He shrugged them off, grabbing device that wasn’t familiar to the Doctor. “I will do the procedure. With payment.”

“We haven’t got much.” Ryan frowned. 

“Empty your pockets.” He demanded. The Doctor watched Graham, Ryan and Yaz, reluctantly put their phones, keys and wallets on the ground in front of him, along with a packet of gum. Lor knelt, inspecting each item individually. “Not good enough. What have you two got?”

“I’ve got nothing.” The Master pulled out the lining in his pockets to prove it. The Doctor sighed, emptying out her sonic, a cocktail umbrella, a pair of sunglasses, a pen, her psychic paper, and a vial of the water. 

The Master frowned as she put it on the ground. 

“You kept it.” He pointed out. She just shrugged bashfully. 

“I’m sentimental like that.”

“Are you?” He raised an eyebrow as Lor picked it up. 

“What is this?” He asked. 

“Water. From a planet called Gallifrey.” She bit her lip slightly. The Doctor really didn’t want the scavenger to take it. 

She almost couldn’t believe herself- carrying around a bottle full of her home planets water for sentimental value, but if she was honest, the Doctor didn’t care. She couldn’t have cared less if the Master, or anyone else thought she was pathetic for it. 

She missed her home. So much. 

“The planet of the time lords. It’s said the water is what creates them, no?”

“That’s not true.” The Doctor shook her head. 

“That doesn’t matter. People would pay good money for it. So many believe it.” He stood up, and took the vial with him. “I will take the manacles off you, in exchange for this.” 

“Doctor, don’t. We can find someone else to do it.” Graham reassured, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

“No. You can’t.” Lor shook his head. 

“He’s right.” The Doctor bit her lip. “I don’t know anyone else who understands how this stuff works.” She sighed deeply, and looked down at the floor. Her eyes were sorrowful. “Just take it.”

“It’s a pleasure doing bui-“ Lor’s smug tone was cut off by a struggle, and the Doctor’s gaze shot up to see the man pinned against the wall with a knife to his throat. 

“What are you doing?” She hissed at the Master, who was pressing a little bit too hard on the man’s jugular. 

“And where did he get the knife?” Graham added. 

“This wasn’t the plan. Let him go.” The Doctor demanded, but the time lord ignored her. 

“You are going to take these off of us, right now.” He said cooly, and Lor nodded shakily. 

“I was already planning on it man! Let me go!”

“Do it.” The Master handed him the tool he’d picked up earlier, and Lor undid a cap with trembling hands, lighting up the tool and pressing it to a small dip in the Master’s manacle. He punched in a code and the lights on the metal glew green, before it dropped off of his wrist and hit the ground. “Doctor.” 

She shook her head disapprovingly and made her way over. 

“Let him go. This wasn’t the plan.” 

“Give him your wrist.” He shot back. The Doctor huffed in frustration when he didn’t listen, and reached out quickly to take the knife off of him. The Master was quicker though, grabbing her wrist and holding it tightly. 

“Put the knife down.” She murmured and glanced at his hand around her wrist, and then at him. He stared back, not betraying any emotion, and pulled her wrist up to the device. 

The Doctor held still as Lor did the same to her manacle with shaking hands. The heavy metal fell to the ground and the time lord pulled her wrist from the Master’s grip, rubbing at the angry red line forming where the manacle had been. 

“Give me the vial.” The Master continued. 

“No- no way man. That’s my payment.” Lor’s voice was shaking slightly as he denied him. 

“Let him have it. I don’t care.” The Doctor lied, glowering into the side of the Master’s head. 

“Give it to me.” The Master pushed harder and Lor squeaked. 

“Ok! Ok! Just- just go!” He handed back the vial and the Master relinquished his grip. 

“Thank you.” The time lord pocketed the knife and left. 

-

“What was that?” The Doctor exploded when they were back in the TARDIS. Her friends had made up some story about getting changed- the Master knew though they were getting out of the way for the argument that was brewing. 

“I got it back for you.” He held the vial between his fingers. 

“He could’ve had it. It wasn’t worth it.”

“It’s yours.”

“You didn’t have to threaten the kids life for it!” She argued. 

“You want it. It’s all you’ve got left, I wasn’t going to let you waste it on a mistake that Vastra made.”

“I don’t care about the water!” The Doctor threw her arms up in the air. “It’s not all I’ve got left.”

“I destroyed Gallifrey, the most I could do was let you keep something from it.” 

“You didn’t need to threaten to kill a man for it.” The Doctor pulled a lever down angrily, and the Master sauntered over, shrugging. 

“It’s just my way of doing things.”

“It was stupid. And reckless. You know you could’ve been hurt, what with all the weapons he had in there. Enough to blow you to kingdom come four times over.” She muttered, focusing on the buttons she was pressing as the Master came shoulder to shoulder with her, leaning back against the console. 

“Why do you care?” He prodded slightly, curious as to what her reply would be. 

“Because /you/ are all that I have left.” She stopped, attempting to glare at him. 

“You’ve got the TARDIS.” He pointed out. 

“It’s not the same and you know it.” She shook her head. 

“You’re annoyed with me.” He stated the obvious, and the Doctor flipped another switch. 

“Yes! I am. Wonderful observation.”

“Why?”

“You put yourself in danger for a bottle of water!”

“A bottle of water from Gallifrey.” The Master emphasised. The Doctor planted two hands on the console and hung her head, taking a deep breath. 

“I would give up all of the damned water on Gallifrey, if it meant I knew you were safe.” She looked up at him, almost darkly. 

He didn’t reply, though. He only closed the gap between them and kissed her gently. 

The Doctor sighed into it, hesitantly wrapping her arms around his neck. The Master pulled her close by the waist, pressing surely and familiarly. 

“This is goodbye.” The Doctor pointed out quietly in the centimetre between their lips. 

“For now.” He confirmed. 

“Good. I don’t have the energy to see you for another decade.” She sighed against his lips. He pressed the vial into her hand when he pulled it from his neck, and the Doctor looked down at it sadly. “Please, promise me to be safe. Or, try.”

“Why?” He knew the answer, he just wanted to hear her say it. 

“You’re all I have. And if you care about me- if you love me, even a little bit, in your strange, convoluted way, promise me you’ll stay safe.”

“If you promise too.” The Doctor turned her head slightly with a sigh, avoiding his eye. “I mean it, Theta.” He chased after her gaze, pressing their foreheads again. “I know what you’re like. Just because you’re hurting doesn’t mean you should stop caring about wether you live or die.”

“I know.” She nodded, glancing into his soul. 

“They need you.”

“Do you?” 

“I want to say no.”

“Then say it.”

“You know I can’t.”

-

“Where did the Master go?” Yaz asked, stepping into the console room to find the Doctor alone. 

“He left. Back to his TARDIS to undoubtedly cause trouble.” She scoffed slightly. 

“Look, Doc.” Graham said beside her, and the Doctor swallowed at his tone. “Do you want to..maybe talk about, anything?”

“What do you want to know?” 

“We don’t want to know anything. We just want to give you the opportunity to get anything off your chest that you might want too.” Yaz encouraged, and the Doctor sighed, leaning against her console rigidly. 

“I...I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s ok.” She reassured. “You don’t have too.”

The Doctor chewed on her lip for a moment, before turning around and flipping a switch. Taking a deep breath, she pulled down a lever and the TARDIS set off. 

“Where are we going?” Ryan asked. The Doctor didn’t say anything, didn’t even turn to look at them. 

The ship landed with a jolt, and Yaz glanced at the men beside her. When it was clear the Doctor wasn’t going with them, and wasn’t going to say anything, she headed gingerly towards the door. 

Yaz wasn’t sure what to expect, she didn’t even know where they were. 

Graham hesitated in front of her, and then pushed open the door. 

Yaz gasped. 

In front of her was a city, burnt to the ground. The sky was dust orange, and smoking. There was a subtle cracking of fires in her ears. Buildings destroyed, turned to rubble and smoulder.

In the centre, was what looked like it used to be a large dome, now broken and burning. She could taste the blood and dust on her tongue, felt tears stinging at her eyes. Yaz could almost picture the beautiful and magnificent city it used to be. 

“Doctor.” Ryan whispered beside her, turning back around to the time lord. Yaz had to tear her eyes away, and her heart broke when she saw her friend. 

She was sat against a pillar, broken and empty. Her face was stained with tears, and she was staring at the wall in front of her. It shocked her to see the person Yaz had always known as upbeat and jovial so devestated, like a shell of her former self. Part of her wondered if her former self had been real at all. 

Yaz made her way slowly over, and sat beside the time lord gingerly. Ryan and Graham followed. They sat around her, and said nothing. 

It would never be enough. 

Nothing any of them could say would make what was outside ok. Nothing anyone could say would make it ok. 

But they were there, and she hoped that was enough for the Doctor. 

She hoped, maybe one day, the Doctor would be able to feel alive without the Master’s help. 


End file.
